Bosnia: Radovan Karadzic expelled from party

(25/12/2001)BANJA LUKA (December 25) - The Serb Democratic Party in the Republic of Srpska has voted to expel its founder Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb wartime leader indicted by the Hague Tribunal on war crimes charges, reported B92. The party held a general assembly yesterday at which members voted to remove war crimes suspects from its ranks, after the governing board agreed to amend the party constitution. "Once adopted, these changes will represent a statutory obligation meaning that membership of all those figuring on the list of indicters will be automatically suspended," party vice-president Dragan Cavic told the assembly prior to the vote. The Republic of Srpska recently introduced a new election law stipulating that political parties with war crimes suspects in their ranks cannot register for elections planned for October 2002. The move will also win favor with the international community which has placed increasing pressure on the Banja Luka authorities to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal. The Serb Democratic Party was founded in the early 1990s by Karadzic, Momcilo Krajisnik and former Republic of Srpska president Biljana Plavsic. Plavsic and Krajisnik are currently in detention awaiting trial at the tribunal. Karadzic and his wartime military leader Ratko Mladic are at the top of the Hague's wanted list. Their whereabouts has become the subject of furious speculation ever since Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte accused the Yugoslav Army of "shielding" Mladic in Belgrade.

//Shqiptarja.com

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• Ratko Mladiç